The Seattle Times had an interesting article this morning by way of the Associated Press titled What’s the CIA doing at NYPD? Depends whom you ask. From the article:

Three months ago, one of the CIA’s most experienced clandestine operatives started work inside the New York Police Department. His title is special assistant to the deputy commissioner of intelligence. On that much, everyone agrees.

Exactly what he’s doing there, however, is much less clear.

The article goes on to say that this unnamed operative has handled foreign agents and ran complex operations in Jordan and Pakistan; in other words, he is not some low-level agent being given a sinecure as he edges into retirement. He started this assignment three months ago… that would be in mid-July. About the same time that Adbusters called for the peaceful occupation of Wall Street.

Hmm…. Certainly I’m not the only one smelling something fishy here.

The CIA — despite federal laws prohibiting them from operating within the boundaries of the United States — has been closely tied to the New York Police Department since 9/11. They helped to set up a (no longer so) secret domestic spying program within NYPD, with selected officers being sent to a CIA training facility where they were trained in intelligence gathering and espionage techniques. These spys were then sent into minority neighborhoods to “map out” the daily life in cafes, bookstores and mosques. Hey, if the CIA itself is not doing the spying, it must be legal, right?

If you are involved with the #occupy movement, either directly as a demonstrator or indirectly as support, or if you are reporting on the movement, keep this mind: the CIA is apparently involved. Stay on guard against provocateurs, and take every speech with a large grain of salt. COINTELPRO is alive and well, and has never been just a FBI operation.